mplhep
Matplotlib styles for HEP
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. mplhep is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, carries a permissive MIT license, and solves a real problem for HEP researchers: conforming plots to collaboration standards with minimal effort. Low install friction and modest but stable community adoption make it a safe choice for physics plotting workflows. Install it if you are producing plots for HEP experiments or collaborations.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3.11 or later; matplotlib and numpy must be installed.
- Low friction: pure Python wheel with four runtime dependencies (matplotlib, numpy, uhi, mplhep-data).
- Active maintenance with a release 22 days ago and recent commits; 221 repository stars indicate modest but steady community engagement.
License · maintenance · safety
MIT (permissive) — MIT license is permissive; you can use, modify, and distribute mplhep freely in commercial or private projects with minimal restrictions.
last release 2026-07-23 (22 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-14 · 221 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 368,011 downloads/mo, #7,192 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install mplhep
import mplhep as hep
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.style.use(hep.style.CMS)
# Create plots with CMS-compatible styling- Whether mplhep-data package is automatically installed as a dependency or must be installed separately.
- Specific font availability (Fira Sans, Tex Gyre Heros) and whether they are bundled or require system installation.
What it is and what it does
mplhep is a matplotlib extension that bundles styling presets and helper functions for producing plots that conform to High Energy Physics collaboration standards. It provides ready-made styles for CMS, ATLAS, LHCb, and ALICE experiments, allowing physicists to generate ROOT-like plots without manually configuring fonts, colors, and layout conventions. The package wraps matplotlib's styling system and adds domain-specific utilities, reducing boilerplate when preparing figures for HEP publications.
The package depends on matplotlib as its core plotting backend, numpy for numerical operations, and uhi (Universal Histogram Indexing) for histogram-specific functionality. It is actively maintained by the Scikit-HEP collaboration and has been used in multiple published HEP analyses. Installation is straightforward and adds minimal overhead—it is a pure Python wheel with no compiled dependencies.
Use it for
- Apply CMS, ATLAS, LHCb, or ALICE collaboration plot styles to matplotlib figures for consistency with experiment standards.
- Generate publication-ready physics plots with correct fonts and layout conventions without manual style configuration.
- Produce ROOT-compatible plot aesthetics in Python workflows when ROOT itself is not available or practical.
- Standardize plot appearance across a collaboration or analysis team by importing a shared style preset.
- Combine HEP-specific styling with custom matplotlib code for specialized physics visualizations.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
mplhep is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, carries a permissive MIT license, and solves a real problem for HEP researchers: conforming plots to collaboration standards with minimal effort. Low install friction and modest but stable community adoption make it a safe choice for physics plotting workflows. Install it if you are producing plots for HEP experiments or collaborations.
Install
mplhep on PyPI
Before you install
Low friction: pure Python wheel with four runtime dependencies (matplotlib, numpy, uhi, mplhep-data). Active maintenance with a release 22 days ago and recent commits; 221 repository stars indicate modest but steady community engagement.
Requires Python 3.11 or later; matplotlib and numpy must be installed.
License in practice
MIT license is permissive; you can use, modify, and distribute mplhep freely in commercial or private projects with minimal restrictions.
Quickstart
pip install mplhep
import mplhep as hep
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.style.use(hep.style.CMS)
# Create plots with CMS-compatible stylingVerify before relying
- Whether mplhep-data package is automatically installed as a dependency or must be installed separately.
- Specific font availability (Fira Sans, Tex Gyre Heros) and whether they are bundled or require system installation.
Package facts
| License | MIT permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.11 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 4 packagesmatplotlibmplhep-datanumpyuhi |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 22 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 368,011 / month, #7,192 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Framework :: MatplotlibIntended Audience :: Science/ResearchProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: OnlyProgramming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14Topic :: Scientific/Engineering :: Physics |
Evidence: mplhep-1.3.2-py3-none-any.whl
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